Where Do The Things Go In Sendak’s Estate?

Maurice Sendak passed away in 2012 but his red cardigan remains draped over the chair in his home art studio.  Lynn Caponera, his housekeeper and caretaker for more than thirty years said, “I still put water in his paints every week, to keep them from drying out.”  For the last two years, Ms. Caponera has vigilantly overseen the legacy, private collection, and rarely viewed home of Mr. Sendak, author of “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Ms. Caponera is now an executor of Mr. Sendak’s estate and president of his foundation.  Recently, she and the estate’s other two executors decided to withdraw more than 10,000 original artworks Mr. Sendak lent to the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, where many assumed the bulk of his work would remain.  The works will return to the house where a museum is being planned by the foundation, a decision some are questioning.  Furthermore, Ms. Caponera’s ability as executor is facing scrutiny as she did not attend college, and has no formal business training to shepherd a complex philanthropic foundation worth millions of dollars. 

The Rosenbach has sued the estate, claiming some of Mr. Sendak’s promised rare books are being withheld.  Yet, in an interview Ms. Caponera defended her decisions and those of the estate in carrying out the wishes of Mr. Sendak, who specified in his will that the house become a study center and museum.  She said she believed he would have wanted most of his drawings and manuscripts at the house rather than the Rosenbach. 

See Randy Kennedy, Sendak’s Estate: Debating Where the Things Go, The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2014.

 Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.